Abrdn returns to revenue on price cuts and asset sale

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Abrdn’s interim boss dominated out a return to dealmaking because the struggling UK asset supervisor swung to a revenue within the first half following price cuts and the sale of its personal fairness enterprise.

The London-listed group on Tuesday reported a first-half revenue of £187mn in contrast with a lack of £169mn a yr earlier.

Abrdn has launched into a big cost-cutting programme because the group battles a squeeze on charges and a interval of sustained outflows. For the primary half, outflows slowed to £1.6bn, from £4.4bn in the identical interval final yr.

Abrdn mentioned its return to profitability was partly boosted by the sale of its £7.4bn European-headquartered personal fairness enterprise, which it accomplished earlier this yr.

Jason Windsor, interim chief government, mentioned: “Whereas market circumstances stay difficult, we’re firmly on monitor to grasp not less than £150mn of annualised price financial savings by the tip of 2025.”

Windsor, a former mergers and acquisitions banker, mentioned on Tuesday that he had no plans to make additional acquisitions, following his predecessor’s buy of Interactive Investor for £1.5bn in 2021. Windsor added that he was “very comfy with the group we’ve got” and that his focus was “about execution” of its current technique.

Shares in Abrdn have been up virtually 4 per cent in early buying and selling.

Abrdn has had a turbulent 4 years during which it has twice been ejected from the FTSE 100 and suffered from a much-ridiculed rebranding, when its Normal Life Aberdeen model was ditched for Abrdn.

Windsor, who was parachuted in as interim chief government in Could when the corporate introduced Stephen Fowl’s departure, is poised to tackle the function on a everlasting foundation, though the corporate gave no replace on Tuesday.

“Whereas Jason Windsor has not been confirmed but as CEO, his assertion definitely reads like one among a CEO-in-waiting,” mentioned Rae Maile, analyst at Panmure Liberum.

Mandeep Jagpal, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, described the outcomes as “strong”, noting that working revenue and web flows beat expectations.

Abrdn’s Interactive Investor, one of many UK’s largest direct-to-consumer funding websites, reported web inflows of £3.1bn over the interval — up from £1.8bn the earlier yr.

Fowl oversaw Abrdn’s acquisition of Interactive Investor as a part of a broader plan to diversify the enterprise, the majority of which is in its asset administration division.

Though Abrdn’s fastened revenue funds have been among the many methods to report web inflows, the corporate’s fairness merchandise continued to undergo from clients withdrawing their cash. Abrdn mentioned that “bettering the funding efficiency” of its fairness funds “stays a precedence”.

Windsor mentioned administration had “seen some fairly good indicators” that momentum had returned to its asset administration enterprise when it comes to buyer inflows — pointing to bigger institutional purchasers.

The corporate’s complete property beneath administration elevated by 2 per cent to £505.9bn.